Obama 2.0 will revitalize tech agenda

The reelection of President Barack Obama along with another politically divided Congress means the tech policy battles from the past few years are going to intensify, even if a few of the faces fighting are about to change.

During a second term, Obama can capitalize on new momentum to push his agenda to boost the country’s cybersecurity defenses, improve the nation’s wireless system and develop rules to assuage consumers’ online privacy fears.

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But greeting Obama 2.0, so to speak, will be a new cast of characters with a familiar story — a Congress with some fresh faces, yet the partisanship that’s stymied tech legislation in sessions past.

With the election results still fresh, there are some early takeaways for tech.

The administration can double down on its tech policy program

This election didn’t hinge on tech and telecom issues, but it’s safe to say Obama’s return to the White House means the administration is going to forge ahead to ensure its plans — many years in the making — soon come to fruition.

That’s especially the case with cybersecurity, a matter that has stalled for years on Capitol Hill. If anything, Tuesday’s outcome may serve as a green light for the White House as it weighs a draft executive order to improve the digital defenses of power plants, water systems and other forms of critical infrastructure.

The White House would have preferred lawmakers to lead the way on cybersecurity, but there’s little hope Congress can make any progress in an otherwise jam-packed lame-duck session. That’s why the administration has spent months laying the groundwork for a potential executive order, said former White House cyber adviser Howard Schmidt.

“There’s been a really good push, appropriately so, to get a better sense from the private sector of what would help them,” said Schmidt, noting that sets the stage for what could be a move before year’s end.

The administration’s former cybersecurity leader added that the Obama administration — in the event of a Romney win on Tuesday — probably would have nixed its plans. “To do it and have it potentially undone, I don’t think benefits anyone,” Schmidt said.

Beyond cybersecurity, a second Obama administration can continue working to improve the pathways for wireless access to more airwaves. And the administration can press on with its lengthy process to bring order to the e-commerce ecosystem, through an industry-driven process to set rules for companies collecting, using and sharing consumer data.

By contrast, the GOP platform backed by Romney questioned the merit of the administration’s work on universal service, while stakeholders felt his White House would have scrutinized its work on online privacy, tossed its net neutrality rules and taken a second look at Obama’s other tech initiatives.

There will be new leadership on tech issues in Congress

A tectonic shift is about to rock key congressional committees, bringing in a cadre of new faces that are sure to tackle tech and telecom problems differently than did their predecessors.

The departure of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) from Congress at the end of the year means there’s an opening atop the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which led chamber debate on cybersecurity reform. And the fact Republicans didn’t take control of the Senate means Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the panel’s top GOP member, is poised to be term-limited out of that seat.

Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, the chairman of the chamber’s top antitrust subcommittee, also is leaving at the end of the year. That means a vacancy opens on a panel that has heavily scrutinized AT&T’s failed bid for T-Mobile and Google’s search-industry dominance, among other matters.

Very good points ! Pr.Obama must take his agenda, his fight , his offer, to the People, directly , with his Administration, and :

a ) broadband and Wi-Fi everywhere and in rural areas , enough !!! and keep Telcos competing, no more monopoly mergers !

b ) get Buffett, Bowles, Simpson, Immelt, Dimon, etc., to act with him on the Fiscal Cliff and fair Taxes for the 2 % , take it to the People ! and since the extreme neocon conservative " DC Taliban" of McConnell-Cantor-Boehner is just going to play more politics for their masters, the Koch Bros, Rupert " Hacker for profit " Murdoch , Sheldon "Money washing machine" Adelson , Haim " 2 sides " Saban and Slim " Monopoly" Helu, the bankers and PR of King Abdullah and Netanyahu, so Pr. Obama , VP Biden and his Adm. must speak to the People directly.

c ) keep N.J. and N.Y. States on full -time flood re-construction, the flooded areas in these States support the workers for the key financial machine, right now many of the trains and subways there are still flooded, so let's help the workers, and since the executives can afford a new limo every day with the spare change of their bonuses.

Gov.Cuomo of New York sees a new ELECTRIC GRID as essential, so why not talk right now about a Bond to re-build the whole National Grid ? starting in the Northeast and across the land ? , getting ready for clean energy ? , and to create millions of jobs and bring America to the same level as China, which is becoming the leader in high -voltage lines and networks ?

d ) work with the new elected woman in the Senate and the House, maybe they will do what these male conservative charlatans have been blocking for the last 2 years, or is it 32 years ? shame !

e ) Clean-up the Treasury, Fed , SEC - Regulators and IRS from "neocons" working for the Hedge Funds , Private Equity and Oil - Currencies - Commodities speculators, they have been a total net loss !!! Remember the 2008 Financial Crisis , they were there.

f ) Who financed the hate video ? Why the CIA top office took 6 weeks to tell the country that they reacted in 30 minutes to the Benghazi attacks ? to stick the blame and scandal on the Pr. and the Adm. ? who financed the whole deadly trick ?

Pr.Obama : get the neocon shadow government out of D.C., today ! , or they will fix another fabricated scandal ( ala Lewinsky-Goldman-Murdoch-NewYork Post ) in the next 12 months and to keep you distracted with another impeachment nonsense, get them out first !

g ) Kerry, Simpson-Bowles, Reed , Napolitano, and in Justice , before A.G. Holder decides to leave , and I hope he stays longer, first get L. Breuer - and his neocons from the Wide Receiver and the wiretaps on dope dealers and their money bankers without any indictments - get them OUT !!!

Breuer and multiple wiretaps : they knew where the money , the dope and the guns were going and they never prosecuted ? anyone ? that's a lot of criminal activity...and where is the money ? People - left and right - are outraged that these neocons are still in the Justice Dpt.

And please, Pr. Obama, keep all the neocons of the WMD - Iraq War lies out, please !

We all hope the President opens up new doors in Asia-Pacific next week, and with Latin America, they are the new markets that must generate another trillion dollars in Trade and Commerce in the next 4 years, let's hope they can make a deal between China,Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, etc., and start drilling for minerals and oil-gas in the South Asia Seas, here USA and others tech. can help a lot , like with Shell in the Arctic, we need cooperation.....AND WHAT A CHANCE TO INSTALL WAVE TURBINES, SOLAR AND WIND SYSTEMS AND SUBMARINE GRIDS MADE IN THE USA !

And Mr. President : they failed trying to crash the Euro and the EU before the 2012 elections , so that the chaos would collapse the global financial markets and stock markets in the USA would go down 20 - to 30 % and your Administration would have looked like total incompetents right before November 6 , 2012, shame ! and the way the Media : W.Post,WSJ, Investors, FT, NYT, FOX-TV, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC and others, the way the targeted the stock markets daily for months - with precise inside EU information and constant negative rumours and gossip - points to some of the Ambassadors , offices or their staff - so many parties and soiree's and art and antiques auctions, they lost track of their real day jobs - and that you appointed to these EU sites with good will --- but it's too much clockwork precision action between the neocon controlled Media , the Hedge - Funds / Private Equity / Money Managers and the shorters and speculators --- so why not get these neocon diplomats out ( abusing their Intel pass ) and avoid the constant attacks to the markets to profit only the speculators ? If you don't , they will come back to bite the Dollar and the USA economy , sooner or later.... it's the greed.

At the end of the day, that D.C. does not even have one large fuel-cell system made in the USA and powering official buildings , does not even have one large wind and solar system on federal lands and buildings , does not have them on Post Offices or federal warehouses, train stations, parking lots , nowhere, WHAT A SHAME , Congress, WHAT A SHAME !!!